CHOICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Factors that influence Nature of IT Decision

The choice of IT makes a qualitative diff in the decision making process & hence Wrong choice of IT would kill a good MIS design.

IT decision is a technical decision rather than the financial decision

Organisation & its infrastructural arrangement of the offices, warehouse, factories, & the customer How IT affects the people, the processes & productivity of the organization

 The work culture & people culture also a critical decision input for any IT decision IT choice is governed by the requirement of the mission critical application of the org IT choice is influenced by technology forecast & business forecast

The choice of IT is a strategic decision making for long term impact on the effectiveness of the firm

STRATEGIC DECISION

Business Goal & mission Mission critical application

Technical Issues

Mgt style & culture

Financial Implications

Work style & culture

Business Operations

Technology

Business Needs

CONFIGURATION DESIGN
System configuration such as architecture, RDBMS, communication tech, storage media, operating system are also strategic to the success of the MIS
Data type Data Volume Storage capacity I/O operations Data Sharing Process Speed RDBMS & 4GL Query processing Interface & gateways security & Integrity Comm. Protocol Languages & packages

EVALUATION
The selection criteria for Evaluation would have diff dimensions to be satisfied simultaneously. These dimensions are as follows; 1. Technical Evaluation 2. Operational Feasibility 3. Financial Consideration

Technical Evaluation;
TE deals with the testing parameters, such as data transfer needs, the response level, connectivity of the diff H/W platforms, degree of over all system performance Starts with literature study of the product & then conducting brain storming session with the vendors specialists. Benchmarking is done for couple of key parameters to test the vendors claims Based on these certain norms are developed, which is used to select system configuration required to meet information Processing needs of the org Then performance related issues such as reliability, dependability, security, integrity are evaluated. Finally information technology is evaluated based on scalability, upgradability, & expandability with the growth of the business.

Operational Feasibility
Operation evaluation considers the people & business processes related issues & whether the systems & the procedures of the org are complementary & conducive The caliber, competence, the knowledge of the people Organization not providing people support to implement technology successfully. System & procedure currently operating in the company may make IT inefficient If the environment does not support the new technology it is prudent to choose the next best technology.

Financial Evaluation
All business investments are evaluate in terms of ROI or certain pay back period & also judged based on budget constraints IT investments are intangible & are difficult to quantify in monetary terms Investment is evaluated based on value of information it gives on an incremental scale WRT budget constraints, advisable to examine the possibility of scaling the hardware & software options. Scaling can be done on two scales Horizontal expansion
Memory, disk, terminals etc configured for present needs & then expanded later

Vertical expansion
System integration, backward & forward, concentrating on mission critical applications

In all matters the total decision is to be taken first & then can be broken down into components based on budget.

IT Implementation Plan
Implementation of the technology is a complex task & needs detailed & Careful planning for successful implementation. It is necessary to prepare a plan of implementation;

Site Preparation System development plan IT installation schedule Recruitment & Training of computer personnel Training of the Users Investment plan

 Site preparation Prepare the site for the physical installation of the hardware Modern IT needs site preparation at the users end ass well for the convenience & ease of the operation Site preparation takes away 10 -12% of investment System Development site Generally prepared while assessing hardware & software needs It prioritize the various steps in the implementation

Information technology installation schedule Schedule gives item wise details of hardware arrival & its installation, testing & acceptance Also considers key issue like data conversion, switching over from old system to new system, rewriting program

 Recruitment & training of IT personnel Need manpower having specific skills responsible for effective implementation As tech changes it is necessary to upgrade the skills of the manpower by providing a need based training. Training of users For effective use of IT, end user must be well trained With proper training user can become a knowledge worker

Investment plan
When all the facets of the IT are ready, monetary implications of such an implementation can be worked out Since IT is a strategic, at the most it can be deferred but cannot be curtailed.